


all i can defend

by orphan_account



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Billy Andrews Being an Asshole, F/M, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Love Confessions, S03e08, although you best believe gilbert breaks up with winnie immediately after this, the "implied" part is what applies here, very loosely inspired by the ridgepole scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22312267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "“It was a matter of honor,” Anne looked away from Gilbert’s face, not wanting to see his reaction as she revealed the immature way she had acted, “Billy Andrews was making slanderous comments and I wanted him to take them back.”“So you let him taunt you into going up on the roof of that cottage?” Anne didn’t answer Gilbert’s question. He groaned. “Anne, I know you’re better than this. I thought you’d stopped getting so riled up over people insulting you. Especially-”“It wasn’t my honor that Billy was questioning.” Anne interrupted Gilbert, then mentally slapped herself for her words. If Gilbert found out exactly why Anne had been up on that roof, she’d never live it down."
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 211





	all i can defend

Anne was passing the bottle of moonshine to Ruby when all of the noise around them suddenly stopped. She looked around, curious about what could silence a bunch of drunk aspiring college students, when she saw what, or rather who, had caused the life to go out of the party.

  


Standing a few feet away, under the shadow of a tree, was Billy Andrews. Anne instinctively moved to stand in front of Josie, smiling when the other girls did the same. Soon they had formed a protective circle around Josie, who was just standing there, shaking from something other than all the moonshine she’d drank.

  


Billy stepped out of the shadow, a cruel smile on his face. He looked straight at Anne and spoke. “Well well well, if it isn’t the little orphan girl.”

  


“Go away Billy.” Moody yelled. His voice was unsteady, but when Anne looked at him, there was no fear in his expression.

  


“I don’t think I will,” Billy stepped closer. The circle around Josie closed in a little tighter, “Now,  _ Miss Shirley _ , how did you manage to convince everyone not to drop you after publishing that stupid article?”

  


“What do you want?” Anne asked, trying not to shiver at the leer on Billy’s face.

  


Billy kept speaking, ignoring Anne. “I guess Gilbert must have defended you like always. How sweet is that? Orphans standing up for orphans.” Billy stepped a little closer. Anne could see that he was clearly drunk, much more so than anyone at the party was. “Of course I always knew that Gilbert was an idiot. He’s just as much of a lowlife as you are. You two deserve each other, two garbage peas in a pod.”

  


“You take that back right now.” Anne’s voice was hard as flint. She stepped out of the circle, knowing the other girls would adjust so that Josie was still safely covered. The insults to her character, she could take. But she would not accept anyone slandering Gilbert, not when he’d stood by her side no matter how many times Anne had pushed him away. Not when Gilbert was the person Anne was in lo- was one of Anne’s closest friends.

  


“Nope.” Billy Andrews said, his grin becoming smug as he saw that Anne had been affected by his words.

  


Anne took another step forward. She was stopped by a hand grabbing hers. She turned around and saw Diana, directly behind her. She shook her head, giving Anne a worried look. And it was completely unfair that Diana was trying to stop Anne. They weren't even talking anymore. Anne yanked her hand out of Diana's, ignoring how the expression on her face turned to hurt, and turned around to face Billy again.

  


It may have just been the moonshine coursing through her veins, but Anne was angrier than she had been even when the schoolhouse had been burned down. She glared Billy down, wanting that smile wiped off his face. "I  _ said _ ," her voice came out lower than she'd expected, "Take. It. Back."

  


Billy's smile only widened. Anne had to prevent herself from doing something rash, like jumping at him and clawing his eyes out his face. "Fine," he said, "I'll take it back,  _ if _ you can make it across the roof of that cottage and back without falling." 

  


With her eyes, Anne followed where Billy's finger was pointing. Cottage was a kind word to call the structure at the edge of the ruins. It was large, at least as tall as the schoolhouse had been, but it was falling apart. The doors were missing, and Anne could see plants going through the cracks in the walls. It was the kind of place Anne would have loved to go once to re-enact a romantical scene from some novel.

  


Anne started to walk towards the cottage, not sure if the roof would even support her weight. Suddenly, her previous silent classmates exploded into noise. Their voices overlapped, but Anne could pick out what a few of them were saying.

  


"You can't do it Anne. It's too dangerous." Ruby sounded close to tears.

  


"Don't be stupid Anne." Charlie Sloane, apparently not realizing the hypocrisy of his words, yelled out.

  


Even Josie, who Anne had thought would be glad to see her injure herself in some grievous way was protesting the action Anne was about to take. "Anne, you may be annoying, but you're not completely idiotic. Don't do this."

  


Despite herself, Anne looked at Diana, wondering what she thought about the whole thing. Diana, who was the only person there who seemed to realize that Anne's mind was set, gave Anne a shaky smile. Anne cautiously returned the smile before turning and continuing her walk to the cottage.

  


Once she got there, she found an old ladder lying against the side. She climbed up it, even though she was certain that it would fall apart any second. And then Anne was standing on the roof, realizing that it was a lot higher than it had looked from the ground. It sort of reminded her of being in the hot air balloon at the fair. Except this time, there was no Matthew and Marilla there with her. Just Anne and her thoughts.

  


Anne took a few steps forward, testing out the stability of the roof. Thankfully, it did not break under Anne's feet. She took a deep breath, letting the cool breeze clear her mind and steady her. The moonshine was gone from her system now, and with it had disappeared Anne's certainty that this was the right thing to do.

  


She looked down at the ground, searching for something (although what it was, she didn't know). Anne saw her classmates standing on the ground, staring up at her, mouths gaping. No matter how hard she looked, though, she could not spot Billy Andrews. Of course, he had slithered away like the spineless coward he was.

  


And now what was Anne doing this for? Billy couldn't very well rescind his statement if he wasn't even here. Anne was just a stupid, stupid girl who hadn't learned anything since she'd first came to Avonlea. She turned around, deciding to go back down.

  


As Anne took her first step, her foot slipped. She waved her arms desperately, trying to regain her balance. She managed to stay on the roof somehow, taking a deep breath to try and calm her racing heart. She took another step and gasped when her foot found only air.

  


Anne didn't remember falling, but she knew she must have. Because one second she was on the roof of the cottage, trying to make her way to the ladder and the next she was on the ground, pain lancing through her leg.

  


"Anne? Anne? Are you alright?" Diana's voice was close. Anne peeled open her eyes to see Diana's face floating over her.

  


"What-" Anne started to ask, but was interrupted by another frantic voice.

  


"What happened here? Is Anne okay?" Diana moved away. Gilbert Blythe took her place.

  


Anne groaned, as much from embarrassment as pain. With his dark, curly hair and startling grey eyes, he looked like a fairy tale prince come to life. And Anne was just lying on the ground. After falling off of a roof. How  _ did  _ Gilbert always manage to find her in her worst moments. It was like he had a sensor in his brain that told him "Anne's doing something mortifying. You should show up now."

  


Anne gritted her teeth and tried to sit up, determined not to stay on the ground any longer. She bit back a scream as her leg jolted with the movement. This wasn't the worst pain she'd ever experienced, she could deal with it. A hand stopped her from sitting all the way up. Gilbert gave Anne a stern look as he guided her back down.

  


"Anne, what happened?" He asked. Anne refused to answer, afraid that if she opened her mouth, the scream she'd been holding back would come out.

  


Diana, who was being way too kind considering the fact that they weren't bosom friends anymore, answered for Anne. "She fell off of the roof."

  


Gilbert nodded and gently lifted up Anne's leg, pausing slightly when Anne winced. Anne couldn't see his face, but she imagined that he was staring at her leg with the serious expression that she'd mentally dubbed his "doctor face". After a minute or two of Anne carefully examining Anne's leg and Anne trying not to show her pain, he spoke. "It's only a sprain. She should be okay in a couple of weeks, but we need to get her ankle treated first."

  


"Should we take her to the doctor?" Diana asked. Anne shook her head. A doctor meant Matthew and Marilla thinking that this was more serious than it was. She didn’t want to worry them any more than they already would be.

  


Thankfully, Gilbert also denied the need for a doctor. “I can take care of it. We just need to get her somewhere cleaner.”

  


Diana nodded and helped Gilbert drag Anne to her feet. She leaned heavily on both of their shoulders, trying to keep her weight off her injured leg. Something occurred to her suddenly. “Why has nobody else come over here?”

  


“Well,” Diana spoke quietly, “I may have threatened them in order to get them to stay back. I thought you wouldn’t want everyone to see you like this.”

  


“Thank you.” Anne smiled. Despite the harsh words they had shared, it seemed that Diana still cared about Anne. She counted her blessings for that. No matter how much Anne told herself otherwise, she missed Diana. Before she could say this, however, a loud wail came from where the rest of their classmates were still milling around. Anne could recognize it as Ruby’s.

  


“I better go… take care of that.” Diana said. She helped Anne adjust so that she was leaning entirely on Gilbert before turning to go.

  


“Wait,” Anne called out. Diana paused and turned around, “Diana-” But there was so much she wanted to say. She didn’t know where to start.

  


Diana just smiled, giving Anne a meaningful look. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  


Anne nodded, watching as Diana strode off. After a moment Gilbert spoke. “Ready to go?”

  


Anne took a deep breath, leaning more heavily on Gilbert’s shoulder. It would be hard to get anywhere with her injured leg, but they’d manage somehow. However, to her surprise, instead of taking a step forward, Gilbert just let Anne go. She tottered for a split second before he swept her up in his arms, holding her bridal style. She blushed, feeling way too close to him.

  


“Put me down!” Anne demanded, trying to wiggle her way out of Gilbert’s arms without moving her leg.

  


“No way,” Gilbert said, tightening his hold on Anne, “It’s the only way to move you without making your sprain worse. Stop moving.” He said, glaring down at Anne. She looked away and let out a “ _ hmph _ ”, but stopped her squirming.

  


Gilbert sighed and started to walk. Anne was pressed so close to her chest that she could feel his heartbeat. The steady rhythm of it comforted her in a way that she’d never admit to anyone. After a few minutes, or perhaps hours, of silence, Anne found her eyes closing, on the verge of sleep. Given the fact that the last thing Anne wanted was to fall asleep in Gilbert Blythe’s unfairly muscular arms, she quickly opened her eyes and moved her head so that it was resting somewhere other than right over his heart. She tried to ignore the strange feeling of loss that came from this action.

  


“Are we going to Green Gables?” Anne asked, wondering what Marilla would think when she saw Anne arrive in the arms of a handsome man, (not that Anne thought Gilbert was handsome, but… ugh), with an ankle that was sprained from falling off a roof. Marilla might just faint at the sight.

  


“No,” Gilbert turned a corner, stepping on some dry leaves with a soothing  _ crackle _ , “My house is closer. And I’ve got all the stuff I need there to get you patched up.”

  


“What about Bash and Delphine? And where will I sleep? And what will I wear when I sleep? And oh, Matthew and Marilla will be so worried. They’ll think I just disappeared on them. And-”

  


Gilbert cut Anne off. “Diana will talk to Matthew and Marilla. And Bash is in Carmody to handle some business for the farm. He left Delphy at Ms. Lynde’s house.” Gilbert stumbled over something on the ground and, probably instinctually, clutched Anne closer to him. “As for where you can sleep, there are plenty of empty rooms. And I thought you could just borrow some old things of- of Mary’s.” His voice trembled as he spoke Mary’s name. Anne felt an old ache in her chest reappear. It had been months since the funeral, but she felt that she would never get over the absence of Mary. Anne didn’t ask about the fact that Gilbert and Bash hadn’t cleaned out Mary’s possessions yet. She knew, more than anyone, how hard it could be to let go of the past.

  


After a few more minutes had passed, Anne spoke. “I think I’ll just sleep in what I’m currently wearing. I know that Mary wouldn’t have objected to me borrowing her clothes, but it would feel-” Anne didn’t finish her sentence, but Gilbert seemed to get what she was saying.

  


“Yeah.” He said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but at that moment, the Blythe-Lacroix Homestead came into view.

  


All of the lights in the house were off, and there was no noise coming from inside. But to Anne, the house didn't look lonely at all. Merely like it was waiting. Waiting for its inhabitants to return home and bring with them love and light and laughter. It almost reminded her of Green Gables in that way.

  


Gilbert walked up to the door and unlocked it, turning the lights on as they entered the house. He helped Anne sit down on the couch before going to another room to get some medical supplies.

  


Anne, forgetting about her injury for a second, swung her legs as she waited. She winced at the sudden, intense pain and bit her lip to keep from screaming. She looked around the room to distract herself. Nothing had changed since the last time Anne had been here to look after Delphine. Gilbert’s medical texts were still strewn around the room, despite the fact that Marilla regularly chastised him about keeping things neat about the house. Anne picked up a book that was lying next to her on the couch. She cracked it open, curious about what kinds of things Gilbert was learning during his apprenticeship in Charlottetown.

  


“Find anything interesting?” Gilbert’s voice said as he entered the room. Anne looked up, shutting the book and laying it back down beside her.

  


“Not really. There doesn’t seem to be anything romantic about your studies.”

  


Gilbert walked closer. Anne could see that he was carrying a bag with some ice in it and a roll of bandages in his hands. She tried not to think about how those hands had been holding her only minutes ago. “Well I’ll have to leave that to you, Miss future teacher.” He handed her the ice and moved to sit beside her on the couch. “Put that on your ankle, it should help the swelling go down. In about fifteen minutes, we’ll wrap it.”

  


Anne nodded and followed his instructions. The cold of the ice stung a little, but Anne quickly got used to it. “Thank you.” She said, mostly to fill the slightly awkward silence that had fallen over her and Gilbert.

  


“You’re welcome,” Gilbert opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. Finally he started to speak, “Why were you up on that roof?”

  


“It was a matter of honor,” Anne looked away from Gilbert’s face, not wanting to see his reaction as she revealed the immature way she had acted, “Billy Andrews was making slanderous comments and I wanted him to take them back.”

  


“So you let him taunt you into going up on the roof of that cottage?” Anne didn’t answer Gilbert’s question. He groaned. “Anne, I know you’re better than this. I thought you’d stopped getting so riled up over people insulting you. Especially-”

  


“It wasn’t  _ my _ honor that Billy was questioning.” Anne interrupted Gilbert, then mentally slapped herself for her words. If Gilbert found out exactly why Anne had been up on that roof, she’d never live it down.

  


“Then whose?” Anne didn’t answer. Gilbert kept pressing, “Anne...”

  


“Why are you here in the first place?” Anne ignored the slightly hurt look on Gilbert’s face. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Charlottetown with Miss Winifred Rose?”

  


“I-I wanted to talk to you actually.” Gilbert suddenly looked nervous. Anne waited for him to continue, but he just stared at her with a strange expression.

  


“About what?”

  


Gilbert looked away from Anne, staring straight ahead. His behavior was slightly worrying her. After a minute he spoke, words running together. “Winnie’s dad gave me permission to propose.”

  


“What?” Anne’s voice was louder than she would have liked. She couldn’t decide what she was feeling, but she knew that it wasn’t positive in any way.

  


Gilbert took a deep breath and started to speak again, slower this time. “He laid it all out on a silver platter. I would marry Winne and I could go to the Sorbonne. He’d even pay all the expenses.”

  


“Oh,” Anne said, suddenly feeling numb, “Congratulations. Winifred seems perfectly lovely. I’m sure you two will be happy together.”

  


“No, I didn’t say yes. I mean, I told him I’d think about it.”

  


Anne was confused. “But he offered to make all of your dreams come true. I don’t see what could possibly be holding you back.”

  


Gilbert looked Anne right in the eyes, Anne inexplicably felt her heart flutter. “Just… one thing.”

  


Suddenly Anne could see everything clearly. The way Gilbert looked at her. How he was always so good natured about their academic rivalry. What Ruby had described as “romance” in his eyes. Hundreds of moments of Gilbert standing up for her. It all added up to one thing.

  


It was too much for Anne. She shook her head, wishing she had some moonshine left in her system. Maybe it would help her sort out her mess of emotions. “No,” she said, “No, no. You never- I never-  _ we  _ never- and now-”

  


Gilbert gently cut Anne off. “I just want to know if you feel the same way. I need to know where we stand before I can make any decisions.”

  


“Why me?” Anne asked, voice surprisingly steady, “Winifred is wonderful and smart and beautiful, and I’m just plain Anne.”

  


“Anne, you are anything other than plain.” Gilbert grabbed Anne’s hand. She didn’t pull away. “You are free-spirited and gorgeous and you always stand up for what’s right. I believe I loved you ever since the moment we met. Since you smashed your slate over my head. You are my closest friend and my fondest desire. You, my Anne with an E, are the keeper of the key to my heart. It’s always you.”

  


The bag of ice slipped out of Anne’s hand. She barely noticed. “But the Sorbonne.” She whispered, trying to process Gilbert’s words.

  


“There are other places I could study. The Sorbonne isn’t the only place with a good medical program.”

  


Anne nodded. She suddenly knew what her answer was. What it would always be. “I love you too, Gilbert.” She said, and it was that simple. Perhaps this what the last few years would be leading up to. All of those unexplainable moments between them. Maybe this was inevitable. That no matter how many times one of them pulled away, they would always find their way back to each other. 

  


Anne leaned in and kissed Gilbert. It was everything like the books said, and more. Anne felt her entire world reorient. She could feel sparks flying from every point of connection between them. It was the best thing Anne had ever experienced. Gilbert’s lips on hers were soft, and he kissed her with passion, as if he had been waiting to do it for years. Anne never wanted to let him go.

  


After a few moments, they broke the kiss, both breathing heavily. Anne pulled back a bit, a random thought coming to mind. “Can I have my pen back?”

  


Gilbert laughed and nodded. He kissed Anne once more before picking up the roll of bandages and moving to the floor to wrap Anne’s ankle. Anne couldn’t stop smiling, even as a sharp pain shot through her leg. The future would bring what it would, but one thing Anne was certain of was that she and Gilbert would be okay. And for that, Anne was grateful.

**Author's Note:**

> me: i'm not going to write awae fanfic  
> me 3k words later: fuck  
> anyways, i hope y'all enjoyed. please leave a comment or kudos if you liked this :)


End file.
